Leafsnap Scientists

With the start of the fall season, our class has noticed lots of changes in our environment. From the weather getting cooler to flowers no longer blooming, our students have become very observant when witnessing the change in season. In particular, our class has been taken by the changing leaves as seen on the trees around our community.

In order to closely examine this change in nature, we decided to take our class on a "Leaf Hunt." Last week, our class took a walk around our community to collect leaves of different shapes, sizes, and colours to be brought back and showcased in our classroom "leaf bin" (formally known as a our "Water/Sand" table). Once back in the classroom, we laid out a large white sheet donated by one of our parents and scattered our collected leaves on top. To begin our discussion, we asked our students what they noticed about all the leaves in front of them. Here are some of their responses:

"A red leaf!" - R.F.

"I see yellow and green leaves." - L.D.

"Small and big!" - R.L.

"Pointy leaves." - S.M.

"Maple leaf shaped leaves." - L.D.

"A line on a leaf!" - A.M.

"A naked leaf!" - E.S.

(Each student then chose one leaf out of our pile to examine it closely). 

"What do you see?" - Ms. Schmidt

"I see braids." - I.D.

"I see a yellow line on a red leaf." - S.M.

"I see lines that go one way, in the middle, and then the other way." - L.D.

"I see pointy parts on my leaf." - J.S.

"There are holes in the middle of my leaf!" - I.D.

"Spots!" - S.M.

"I see yellow lines in an orange leaf." - J.S.

Throughout the week, we used our "Leaf Bin" to explore leaves using different materials: our hands, magnifying glasses, plastic bugs (which our students authentically sorted based on their colour and matching each bug to the same coloured leaf), and tweezers. We have also been working on examining leaves using our senses and in particular, creating leaf outlines using wire. Not only has this been a wonderful exercise to build fine motor skills, but the students continue to enjoy replicating the shapes of different leaves using different wires (e.g. different thicknesses).

Our proudest learning moment so far occurred today when we introduced an amazing iPad app called Leafsnap! This app allows you to scan any leaf (laying on top of a white background) and it uses visual recognition software to identify what tree the leaf came from! It's incredible! It can go as far as locating the tree in your community and elaborating on its species using high-resolution images.

To make this learning opportunity meaningful and purposeful for our students interest and inquiry on leaves, we wanted to provide them with the tools to craft their own knowledge. With just a brief modelled lesson, the first small group of students were able to single-handedly manipulate, navigate, and control the use of the iPad and gather their information pertaining to their selected leaf. It was amazing to see them take control of their learning and take pride in their found results! Now that we've introduced this learning tool to a small group of students, we plan to appoint them as "leaders" within the classroom with a special job of assisting their peers throughout their own leaf discoveries!

Below are some of the work samples created by the first group of Leafsnap scientists! Several students even felt inspired to write their very own "Leaf Books" - what more could you ask for?

Authentic, meaningful and purposeful learning at work and play!

 A Leaf Book - By L.D.

I am going to make a book. A leaf was falling. It had lines. It just fell and it landed on the ground! 

A boy had another leaf! Ok. A Leaf. This leaf fell on the tree and it fell on the tree again and on the street! And on the DIRT!! It had spikes on the side ok. Now it fell on the car! Now it had a fall on the sidewalk. Now it fell on me! I just had lots of fun ok. Yes I love trees!

Check out their website: http://leafsnap.com